AstraZeneca PLC

Good morning to those joining from the UK and the US, good afternoon to those in Central Europe, and good evening to those listening in Asia. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to AstraZeneca's First Quarter Results webinar for investors and analysts. Before I hand over to AstraZeneca, I'd like to read the Safe Harbor Statement. The company intends to utilize the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Participants on this call may make forward looking statements with respect to the operations and financial performance of AstraZeneca. Although we believe our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, by their very nature, forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and may be influenced by factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Any forward looking statements made on this call reflect the knowledge and information available at the time of this call. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements. Please also carefully review the forward-looking statements disclaimer in the slide deck that accompanies this presentation and webinar. There will be an opportunity to ask questions after today's presentation. Please use the raise a hand feature to indicate you wish to ask a question and remember to unmute your line when invited to speak. And with that, I'll now hand you over to the company.

A warm welcome to AstraZeneca's first quarter 2024 presentation, conference call and webcast. I'm Andy Barnett, Head of Investor Relations at AstraZeneca. And before I hand over to Pascal and other members of the executive team, I would like to cover some important housekeeping points. Firstly, all of the materials presented today are available on our website. This slide contains our safe harbor statement, which I'd encourage you to take the time to read. We will be making comments on our performance using constant exchange rates, or CER, core financial numbers, and other non-GAAP measures. A non-GAAP to GAAP reconciliation is contained within the results announcement. All numbers quoted are in millions of US dollars unless otherwise stated. This shows the agenda for today's call, and following our prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. As usual, we will try and address as many questions as we can during the allotted time, although I would ask participants to limit the number of questions you ask to allow others a fair chance to participate in the Q&A. And with that, Pascal, I will hand over to you.

Thank you, Andy. Good day, everybody. I'm pleased to report that we have made a very strong start in 2024. Total revenue grew by 19% in the first quarter, reflecting continued strong demand, and co-earnings per share rose by 13%. Recall the first quarter of 2023 benefited from a $240 million gain in other operating income following the divestment of Pelmicard Flex Seller in the U.S. Collaboration revenue and other operating income were minimal this quarter, which makes the EPS year-over-year growth all the more impressive. We are also pleased to announce an increase in the annual dividend of 7% at the Annual General Meeting earlier this month. This increase is in line with our progressive dividend policy and reflects the continuing strength of AstraZeneca's investment proposition for shareholders. Please advance to the next slide. We saw strong double-digit growth across our therapy areas in the first quarter. This is also the first quarter where quarterly revenue from our oncology and biopharma businesses exceeded $5 billion and rare diseases exceeded $2 billion, reflecting the value our medicines bring to patients globally. We saw 19% growth in both the US and Europe this quarter, driven by strong demand. Our business grew substantially in the emerging markets, and growth was especially pronounced outside of China, driven by our sustained presence and commitment to these markets. Next slide, please. As strong pipeline momentum has continued into 2024, we announced positive trial results for LoRa and Adriatic, both of which have been selected for presentation during the ASCO plenary, reflecting the important benefits seen for lung cancer patients. As a reminder, there are five presentations at the plenary, so two out of five is a very unusual result. We saw a number of exciting new approvals in the first quarter. The approval of TAGRISO in combination with chemotherapy establishes a new benchmark for efficacy in frontline EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. The approval of an HER2 in previously treated HER2-positive cancers is the first tumor-agnostic approval for a HER2-directed therapy and offers new hope for patients with a wide range of cancers. And finally, Ultomeris was approved in an MOSD, and we are now working on establishing Ultomeris as the new standard of care for this debilitating disease. These approvals further build on the momentum we are seeing from other recent approvals listed here, and we are investing to ensure that each of these new opportunities reach full commercial potential. Adriatic and LoRa, if approved, coupled with the three approvals I've just described and the ongoing launches, have the potential to deliver several billion dollars in total revenue, additional revenue, in 2030. And this is what our pipeline is delivering in the first quarter of 2024. With that, please advance to the next slide, and I will hand over to Arad now, who will take you through our first quarter financials.